The Laccase Family Gene Participates in Resistance to Infection in Tea Plants.

Fungal attacks have become a major obstacle in tea plantations. is one of the most devastating fungal pathogens in tea plantations that can severely affect tea yield and quality. However, the molecular mechanism of resistance genes involved in anthracnose is still largely unknown in tea plants. Here, we found that the laccase gene was involved in the response to fungal infection based on a transcriptome analysis. The full-length CDS of was cloned, and its protein sequence had the closest relationship with the AtLAC15 protein compared to other AtLACs. Tissue-specific expression analysis showed that had higher expression levels in mature leaves and stems than in the other tissues. Subcellular localization showed that the CsLAC37 protein was predominantly localized in the cell membrane. The expression levels of were upregulated at different time points under cold, salt, SA, and ABA treatments. qRT-PCR confirmed that responded to both -like species and infections. Functional validation showed that the hydrogen peroxide (HO) content increased significantly, and POD activity decreased in leaves after antisense oligonucleotide (AsODN) treatment compared to the controls. The results demonstrated that may play an important role in resistance to anthracnose, and the findings provide a theoretical foundation for molecular breeding of tea varieties with resistance to fungal diseases.